World Tourism Day 2017 – celebrating sustainable tourism

World Tourism Day 2017 – celebrating sustainable tourism

Today’s World Tourism Day, 27 September, is focusing on Sustainable Tourism – a Tool for Development. Celebrating in spirit with the 2017 International Year of Sustainable Tourism for Development, this day is dedicated to explore the contribution of tourism to the Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs).

Last year alone, 1.235 million travelers crossed international borders. By 2030, this 1.2 billion will become 1.8 billion. As we from Pack Safari celebrate World Tourism Day 2017, we ask ourself the question, how we can participate in enabling this powerful global transformative force, these 1.8 billion opportunities, to contribute to make that part of the world in which we operate, namely southern Africa, a better place and to advance sustainable development in all its three pillars. These three pillars are: economic, environmental and social.

Pack Safari is proud to announce that we have put a lot of emphasis on sustainable tourism up till now and will continue in doing so through adhering to the following objectives:

Pillar 1: Environmental Sustainability

Here we focus on ensuring that our tours have little effect on the current natural and manmade environment and heritage, so that it is preserved for future generations to enjoy as well.

Pillar 2: Socio-cultural Sustainability

Our main objective of socio-cultural sustainability is to encourage the positive aspects, such as the exchange of ideas and cultural values, while minimizing the negative influence brought on by our tours, such as over population, migration and even increased crime rates. We focus on encouraging cultural exchange between our guests and locals, preserving local traditions and protecting tangible and intangible cultural heritage of southern Africa.

Pillar 3: Economic Sustainability

Even if people are reluctant to include the money aspect when discussing sustainability, we believe that it is the key to making sustainable tourism with Pack Safari a success in the long term. With economic sustainability we focus on keeping the economic gains of our tours as far as possible within the local community. Promoting and supporting locally run businesses and employing locals in the company also helps promote tourism while still giving back to the local community. The Pack Safari goal is to ensure that the local community profits economically through our tours.

Pack Safari is the rock-solid conviction that tourism can only be sustainable and successful in the long term, when it has the bare minimum impact on the natural and socio-cultural environment of the locality, while still adding to the local economy.

In honor of this special day we would like to invite you, dear Pack Safari guests and staff, to always respect the nature, the cultures and the hosts while traveling or working in the tourism business.